A time delay procedure was examined to increase the spontaneous speech of seven autistic children (5-11 years old). All Ss learned to request items spontaneously and generalized this behavior across settings, people, situations, and to objects which had not been taught. (CL)

A graduated guidance procedure was used to teach 4 boys (ages 9-14) with autism to follow photographic activity schedules to increase on-task and on-schedule behavior. Use of the schedules produced sustained engagement which generalized to a new schedule with a new sequence of photographs. Subjects were able to independently change activities in…

A 10-year-old autistic child was trained to imitate verbal prompts describing the child's motor responses. When intervention was introduced in the form of a gradual delay in the presentation of the verbal prompts, the child's spontaneous speech on trained items increased. Generalization and maintenance were analyzed. (Author/JDD)

Four preschoolers (ages 4-5) received self-instructional training in overt and covert self-verbalizations. Treatment effects were evident in the training setting. Generalization of self-verbalizations to the classroom setting was related to changes in performance accuracy, on-task behavior, and efficiency in completing academic work. (Author/JW)

Verbal prompting and graduated physical guidance procedures were found to substantially increase independent and social play in two interrelated experiments with eight profoundly mentally retarded adults. Independent and social play remained in the subjects' repertoire for 12 months following termination of programmed maintenance. (Author/JW)

The effectiveness of a five-second time-delay procedure to teach three chained food preparation behaviors to four moderately retarded adolescents was evaluated within a multiple probe design across behaviors. The skills maintained over a three-month period and generalized from school to home for subjects completing the generalization probe…

A self-management intervention package was used with preschoolers with developmental delays. Self-assessment of performance resulted in increases in active engagement across all participants during training, but generalization to classrooms was sporadic and short-lived. When recruitment of teachers' contingent praise was added, treatment effects…

A time delay procedure was used to teach three children (ages 5-9) with autism to ask the question "What's that?" when novel stimuli were presented, and generalization of the skill was assessed. Results suggest that children with autism can be taught to ask questions that lead to acquisition of new information. (Author/DB)

Three children (ages 4-5) with autism and mental retardation were treated for deficits in self-initiated speech. A treatment package employing visual cue fading was compared with a graduated time-delay procedure. Both treatments included training multiple self-initiated verbalizations using multiple therapists and settings. Both treatments were…

Prompting, positive and negative reinforcement, and a gradually extended reinforcement schedule were used with three autistic clients (two six-year-olds and one adolescent) to teach them to maintain on-task behaviors without constant supervision. Results indicated that appropriate behavior could be successfully maintained with only infrequent and…

A retrospective review of 51 studies from 22 journals (1976 to 1990) concerning generalization of social skills training with preschool children was conducted. Strategies employed by the most successful studies were identified, such as addressing functional target behaviors; using prompts, positive reinforcement, and feedback strategies; and…

Ten staff members of residential facilities for individuals with mental retardation were trained in self-monitoring procedures, to increase staff on-task behavior and adherence to scheduled activities. Increases in both on-schedule and on-task behavior resulted, and generalization to evening hours occurred. Supervisor feedback was subsequently…